The game ‘Two Truths and a Lie’ is a way for strangers to get to know one another by stating three pieces of information about themselves. Two statements are true, but one is a lie, and it is up to the other players to guess which piece of information is false. Anyone who has played ‘Two Truths and a Lie’ knows how difficult it is to detect when someone is lying. Perhaps this is because we are all experts when it comes to lying. It is estimated that people tell approximately one or two lies per day. In general, people tend to lie in 25% of their social interactions. Although we may be experts when it comes to telling lies, the opposite tends to be true of our ability to detect lies. The average person can only accurately detect a lie 54% of the time. Recognizing the large role that lying plays in our everyday lives, researchers have investigated why we lie and the clues that indicate that someone is lying to us. 

Lying is not always accompanied by malevolent intentions. Sometimes, we lie to protect the feelings of people that we care about. Researchers suggest that 25% of our lies are actually intended to make another person feel better. For instance, you may not enjoy reading the transcript for your friend’s new novel about aliens who come to earth to join the circus, but by telling your friend that you liked the story you can boost their self-esteem and avoid hurting their feelings. Other times, we might lie because it is the easier alternative. For example, your mother might be angry if your bedroom is messy because you spent the day playing videogames, but you can avoid that fight by telling her that you spent the day doing homework. Perhaps the social benefits of lying are related to the finding that outgoing, extroverted people are more likely to lie. Chronic or compulsive liars tend to be manipulative and strongly concerned with managing the impression that others have of them.

So how do we know when we are being lied to? There are many cues that indicate lying, although we must be careful about their interpretation. The presence of these signs do not always mean that a person is lying, but if many of these cues are present at the same time, there may be an increased chance that someone is lying. Someone who is lying will probably keep their story simple, but they may include justifications without your prompting. They are also less likely to use first-person words like “I” or “me”. They may also demonstrate signs of anxiety or stress, such as playing with their hair, avoiding eye contact or fidgeting. If you want to detect a lie, try asking the person to repeat their story backwards and ask open-ended questions about its content. Asking questions can indicate truthfulness beyond what observation alone may yield.

 

Sources:

The Psychology of Lying (http://www.dailyinfographic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/The-Psychology-of-Lying.jpg)

Denise Chow – Believe or Deceive? Why Liars Are Difficult to Sniff Out (http://www.livescience.com/37023-lying-deception-psychology.html)

Allison Kornet – The Truth About Lying (https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199704/the-truth-about-lying)

Stuart Wolpert – How to Tell When Someone’s Lying (http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/how-to-tell-when-someone-s-lying-202644)